Nicolas Moreno de Alboran opens up about recent health battle with dengue fever complications

Later this month, 26-year-old American Nicolas Moreno de Alboran will compete at Roland Garros for the first time in his career, by virtue of racking up the most clay-court ranking points among American men in contention for the USTA's reciprocal main-draw wild card in Paris. But this week, the American opened up on a recent, harrowing health battle that could've derailed his tennis career entirely.

Last summer, after qualifying for and competing at the US Open in his main-draw debut, the 6-foot-1 right-hander, who had starred for the University of California, Santa Barbara, in college, was on his way up, and at a career-high ranking of No. 121. He decided to take a few days off to visit some friends in the Dominican Republic (he lived there for 10 years in his youth) before finishing out the year's tournament schedule.

That decision turned out to be pivotal in the current chapter of his life: After being bit by a mosquito shortly before departing, Moreno de Alboran became infected with the dengue virus. What Moreno de Alboran initially thought was a case of COVID-19, or the flu, soon threw his life for a loop.

"I never thought a mosquito bite could turn my life upside down in an a matter of days," he said.

More than 5 million cases of dengue virus were reported worldwide last year, but the majority of those cases are asymptomatic according to the World Health Organization. However, Moreno de Alboran fell into the small percentage of people who develop a severe case. His symptoms became such that he checked himself into a Domincan hospital, and soon, Moreno de Alboran's condition worsened further. He lost 20 pounds in two weeks, and had "muscle aches so bad, [he] could barely walk or move in bed." His white blood cell count dropped to 4,000.

"If I lost anymore white blood cells," he said, "they were going to put me into a medically-induced coma."

"A single mosquito bite put everything in perspective: everything was taken away in a second," he continued. "All the tennis, training, tournaments, my goals for the season, were put on the back burner."

Moreno de Alboran was eventually discharged after 10 days, and played tournaments at the end of 2023, but some symptoms lingered for several months, he said. (His younger brother, Beltran, also contracted the disease at the same time.) After taking some time to regain his fitness, the story of his 2024 season thus far is one of resilience: This year, he scored his first ATP main-draw victory in Delray Beach, qualified for his first Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, and reached his first ATP quarterfinal on clay in Marrakech.

That, coupled with a quarterfinal run at an ATP Challenger in Rome, gave the now-world No. 138 enough points to clinch the USTA's merit-based challenge that will award him the wild card in Paris ahead of Mitchell Krueger and Michael Mmoth.

"It's been a tricky start, but I'm slowly getting back to my winning ways," Moreno de Alboran closed his video by saying. "But looking back, I can only be grateful for the incredible care by the Dominican nurses, and the valuable lessons learned along the way."